Mandated Contacts

The Mandated Contacts section is a detailed list of individuals you must contact during the course of the assessment. The list of required contacts is dictated by DCS policy, please refer to that for the most up-to-date information about required mandated contacts. You can submit the assessment without completing all the mandated contacts. You can also add a note to the History Page to explain why a particular contact was not reached. 

Common people included on the list of mandated contacts are:

• • Alleged victim

  • Alleged Perpetrator

  • Any other children in the home

  • Parents

  • Caregivers

  • Guardians

  • Report Source

  • Professionals

Sometimes a deceased person may populate the list of mandated contacts. This occurs because Casebook populates the list of mandated contacts by looking at the relationships the focus child has with other people entered into Casebook. If you see a deceased person populating the mandated contacts card, you do not need to create a fake contact. 

Mandated Contacts Card

Below is the mandated contacts card from an assessment page. In the left hand "Person(s)" column, each individual's name is a link to their person page. Only people with a relationship to the focus child that fall into the listed categories will appear on the list by default. If other people need to be on the list of mandated contacts, you must create a relationship between that person and the focus child.

The right hand column "Contact Made" automatically tells the workers whether contact has occurred, and if so the date and method of the contact. Once contact has been made, the date/method information is an active link that, when clicked, takes you to the note that recorded the contact.

Recording Contact

You can record a contact by entering a note in Casebook. When a face to face contact is made with the victim recorded, the assessment will be initiated. 

• 1. Click Create a Note in the top right corner.

  2. Enter the name of the assessment you made the contact for. If you click the Create Note button from the assessment, this name will fill in by default.

• 1. Click Proceed

  2. Select Contact from the dropdown list and click add

• 1. Enter the necessary information in the form that opens. In order for Casebook to count the mandated contact, the contact method must be made face-to-face.

• 1. Click save

Face to Face Contact Policy

According to DCS policy, mandated contact must be face-to-face for the following people. If workers contact these individuals through another method it will not count toward their mandated contacts list and they will not be able to submit the assessment:

• • victims

  • other children in the household

  • parents

  • perpetrators

Mandated contacts that can be made through any method include:

• • report source

  • professionals

Consent to Interview

Children require a legal consent to be interviewed by the FCM. Casebook notifies the FCM that they need to get a consent to interview with a warning box at the top of the mandated contacts card.

Once the FCM has gained the legal consent, they can record it in Casebook by:

• 1. Clicking the link in the top, right hand corner of the Mandated Contacts card for "Consent to Interview"

• 1. Selecting "yes" or "no" from a drop down menu specifically associated with each child in the assessment in the pop-up box that opens

  2. None/blank field - occurs when the user has not yet answered yes or no to the question and implies that no consent is on record

  3. Yes - when consent to interview is allowed

  4. No - when consent to interview is denied

  5. Clicking save once the correct information has been entered

1. If any of the consents are set to 'no' or not answered, an error message will display on the show page saying consent is missing

Duplicate People in the List of Mandated Contacts

If you see duplicate people on the list of mandated contacts, 

Sometimes a duplicated person record will appear in the mandated contacts. Additionally, if a contact was created on an assessment, but it did not populated the Mandated Contacts card, the contact might have been created on a duplicated person. Click here to learn how to work with duplicate people.

Initiating Assessments

 An assessment is considered  'initiated'  when face-to-face contact with the alleged victim occurs and is recorded OR contact with a person (other than the alleged perpetrator) who has a relationship with the alleged victim and can provide information on the allegation(s) occurs. The FCM will then notify the parent, guardian, or custodian in person or via phone, of the face to face contact with the alleged victim. 

To initiate an assessment, Casebook looks at:

• 1. The earliest date the alleged victim has been contacted face-to-face; or,

  2. The earliest telephone contact or face-to-face contact with someone (other than the alleged perpetrator) who provides information regarding the allegation and has a relationship in Casebook to the victim.